'Jamu' grocers avoid pre-Idul Fitri struggle for transport home

By Dwi Atmanta

JAKARTA (JP): The energy sapping battle against hunger and thirst during the fasting month of Ramadhan shifts into high gear for Moslems here when they search for buses and trains bound for their hometowns prior to the Idul Fitri holidays.

However, such a routine, which has always been marked with chaos at bus terminals and railway stations, no longer belongs to traditional medicinal herbal tonic (jamu) grocers.

While almost three million holiday revelers slug it out for seats throughout next week, the jamu sellers will be enjoying their trip back home.

The Idul Fitri holidays fall on Feb. 9 and Feb. 10.

Minister of Transportation Haryanto Dhanutirto has predicted that 25 million people will join the annual exodus. Traffic jams look unavoidable, not to mention some areas along Java's northern coast route which are prone to floods and landslides.

There will be 38,236 public buses and 986 train cars deployed for the holiday season, but judging by those figures, it looks like they will be incapable of accommodating an estimated 16.5 million people who will return home by road.

With the government recommending hikes in bus fares up to 25 percent a week before and after the holidays -- although in fact, the increase is uncontrollable -- the jamu peddlers can enter the buses free of charge.

"I'm lucky enough not to break a sweat or shed tears," said Soleh, who sells jamu in Palmerah, Central Jakarta. The 25-year- old native of Kuningan, West Java will join the trip organized by PT Sidomuncul, one of the country's leading jamu factories.

"During the holiday season, the bus fare to my hometown can reach Rp 12,000 (US$5.2), more than twice as high as the usual fare," Soleh said.

The trip, which constitutes the company's seventh successive charity program, which will take place Wednesday. It is expected to involve 9,000 jamu sellers and their families who live in Greater Jakarta. Soleh will be making his fourth journey with the Sidoarjo, East Java-based firm.

Passengers will gather at the Senayan parking lot and be divided into several groups according to their destinations. The farthest destination is Wonogiri, Central Java, home to another jamu giant, PT Air Mancur.

Other than the free bus trip, the traders will be vying for the top prize of a motorcycle in a lucky draw organized by the sponsoring company prior to their departure.

Sidomuncul's Jakarta branch office spokesperson, Maria, claimed that the firm is the first to introduce the program, which is aimed to maintain a good relationship with the sellers.

"Rival jamu companies just followed in our footsteps," she said. However, she refused to comment about the impact of the program on the company's selling rate.

A staff member of the Wonogiri-based PT Air Mancur, Bambang Triono, said the company decided to start the charity program three years ago for long-term purposes.

"We don't expect instant results from this program. We are thinking about the future," Bambang said. "Weaving a mutual cooperation with sellers is part of our promotion strategy," he added.

Bambang declined to disclose the budget for the annual program, but hinted that it would cost the company nearly Rp 29 million.

He said 25 buses have been provided to accommodate 1,250 people for this year's trip, which takes place Thursday. Each bus will cost the company up to Rp 700,000.

Each jamu seller will receive a dinner worth Rp 1,500 plus a T-shirt, which costs Rp 7,500.

Secured

Minister of Manpower Abdul Latief has called on all companies to provide vehicles for their employees who are returning home for Idul Fitri.

Latief said transportation facilities would allow the employees to feel secure prior to the Islamic holidays, which are always marked by a massive exodus involving millions of people. Most of the revelers head for towns in West Java, Central Java and East Java.

"Transportation expenses have always cost the employees most of their holiday allowances," the minister said.

For that reason, cosmetic producer PT Martina Berto has, since 1992, initiated a collective trip for its employees who will celebrate the Moslem holidays in their hometowns, according to the head of the company's trade union, Wasisto.

The firm, a supplier for national cosmetic giant PT Sari Ayu, will send 200 employees back home for Idul Fitri on Friday afternoon. Four buses will carry them, but not for free.

Wasisto said the company provides only Rp 15,000 in transportation subsidies for each homeward bound employee, meaning that the employee has to pay extra expenditures for his or her family.

"It's hard for the management to cover them all, because this is unfair. There are more employees who do not return home," said Wasisto, who has been with the company for 12 years.

The company's management will give all employees the same amount in holiday allowances plus an extra two days of leave next Wednesday and Thursday, in observance of the holidays.

He said before 1992, the employees' productivity dropped before the Idul Fitri holidays because their thoughts were on their hometowns hundreds of miles away. "They were restless after watching thousands of people fight tooth and nail for buses," he said.

Wasisto said the annual exodus would not adversely affect the production process of the company. "No problem. We have regularly faced the same thing," he said.

Elsewhere in Serang, West Java, each company at the Cikande and Cilegon industrial estates will provide buses for its employees. This year's holidays will see 150,000 workers leave for home.

But the lucky employees and jamu sellers forget that the difficulties common to this holiday period will also occur on the return trip, when the same amount of holiday revelers leave home to return to their places of business.

"No problem. At least I can celebrate the holidays peacefully," said Soleh, the jamu seller working in Palmerah.